Beauty and the Beast - Recap: Future Shock
Credit: The CW
Recap and review of Beauty and the Beast - Season 1 Episode 21 - Date Night:
Beauty and the Beast is usually at its best when it can condense its entire story down into a single theme, which the episode can then explore at length. "Date Night" tackles the future. No, there isn't time travel involved or anything; instead there's a clear focus on how the promise of the future motivates one's actions in the present, for better or worse. Though one might think that this theme is pretty much a truism, since actions in the present are almost always dictated by the potential consequences they'll have, there's actually more to it than all that. Sure, we sometimes allow the potential consequences of our actions influence our decision to commit to those actions. However, sometimes we act in spite of the consequences, either because we want something badly enough not to care about the backlash, or because the future is a living, evolving thing, and (who knows?), maybe the consequences won't be quite so dire. Regardless of the motivation behind it, the promise and potential that the future represents is one of the most compelling forces in life. Thankfully, it also proves to be one of the more compelling forces in the narrative of Beauty and the Beast, as Vincent (Jay Ryan), Cat (Kristin Kreuk) and Gabe (Sendhil Ramamurthy) are driven to gripping extremes by their ambitions for the future. Ultimately, this has the end result of making "Date Night" a pretty damn solid hour of television.
Credit: The CW
The episode hits the ground running by having Cat discover that Gabe has cross-species DNA just like Vincent. Though last week's cliffhanger revealed his true nature, we still didn't have much of an idea what, exactly, was his end goal. Yet "Date Night" dispenses with the mystery in short order, as Gabe reveals that Vincent's DNA could be the key to stabilizing his own. Gabe doesn't have the control that Vincent does over his erratic (and sporadic) changes. While Vincent has gotten pretty good at Beasting in/out, at will, the only thing keeping Gabe from being in a perpetual state of Beastliness is a mysterious medication he takes to suppress the complicated processes of his biology. I've always applauded the series on its depiction of Gabe, as he's someone they've handled pretty well from day one: he went from his initial introduction as a smug, potential suitor for Cat to the more flat depiction as an antagonist (as the leader of the anti-Vigilante task force); from there, he became something of a sympathetic figure to Cat, particularly after he revealed his backstory as a victim of Muirfield's cruel experiments; however, here, Gabe circles right back around to his former ambiguity. We know who/what he is, and we know what he wants and why. And it's likely that viewers will want to believe that Gabe is a good guy. Hell, I did. But even though I found myself rooting for Gabe to find a cure to his condition, the end reveal of the episode wasn't all that surprising, since Gabe never entirely stopped being suspicious. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Back to the episode...
Credit: The CW
So Cat and Tess (Nina Lisandrello) are supposed to be keeping an eye on Gabe, since the Bustamante crime family is still after the ADA that sank their entire operation. However, when Cat meets up with Vincent to bring him to meet with Gabe, they discover a crime scene in Gabe's lavish (and I mean LAVISH) apartment. Gabe has apparently hulked out and killed the Bustamante men before they could kill him. And now the ADA is missing, and Joe (Brian J. White) is giving Tess the business for letting him slip away. Thus, the race is on to find Gabe before it's too late, an arc that gives the episode a goal (and momentum, along with it). Vincent and Cat infiltrate the Bustamante compound to search for Gabe, believing that he might have been kidnapped. This leads to a fight in which Cat handles herself well, while Vincent utilizes his beastly strength to cut through the thugs like a hot knife through butter (or cheese, or some other soft solid -- maybe cranberry sauce? The canned kind). The fact that Vincent relies immediately on his Beast abilities becomes important later, and is a nice hint of foreshadowing as the episode rolls on. As for this moment, Cat and Vincent discover that Gabe put a tracking device on Vincent to ascertain his location, which means he's probably back at Vincent's -- where J.T. (Austin Basis) is defenseless.
Credit: The CW
Vincent arrives just in time to shoot a Beasted Gabe full of tranquilizers. They initially seem to have no effect, causing Vincent to tease entering Beast form to take Gabe down, and that brief tease is one of the more exhilarating moments of the episode, as I was totally prepared to see what, exactly, a Beast-on-Beast fight would look like (I imagine it would involve the throwing of furniture while leaping through the air in an awkward, True Blood-esque "My claws/fangs are out and my knees are bent just so!" pose). Unfortunately, we're denied the one-on-one throwdown, as the tranquilizers take effect and Gabe passes out. When he wakes, he explains that he loses control over his Beast form, and hardly even remembers his actions when he's in that form. He explains that his time is running out, since his body has gradually been building up a resistance to the medication that prevents his transformations. Gabe fears being a Beast 24/7, and states he would commit suicide before allowing himself to get to that point. When Vincent and the others ask what he's after, he explains that he needs a sample of Vincent's DNA to see if he can find a way for his body to replicate the qualities in Vincent's blood that allows him to exercise limited control over his changes without medication. In exchange, Gabe will give Vincent some of his meds so that Vincent can experience a night out with Cat, without fear of his Beast form taking over. And like that, it's a deal.
Credit: The CW
Vincent and Cat are finally able to have a normal date, swimming in the pool at Gabe's high-rise complex while talking about a potential future together: one that involves picket fences and lazy afternoons. Kreuk and Ryan do some of their best work here as a duo, in the sense that there's an ease about their relationship that makes them feel like a genuine couple. I've talked about this in reviews before, but I still feel as though this is something that deserves to be commented on, since it's exceedingly rare to get a sense of authenticity out of a relationship on a televised soap in its first year. They're joking and playful nature here made them feel like the real deal, which is what makes J.T.'s eventual revelation that Vincent has to stop taking the pills, since the meds will ultimately kill him in under three years, all the more heartbreaking -- in effect, it snatches away the future Vincent and Cat had been planning together. Cat insists that she doesn't care that their "picket fence" future is no longer a possibility, and that she simply wants Vincent to be with her, no matter what kind of future they have together, Vincent can't bring himself to give up on the dream of normalcy. He takes one last pill the morning after their date, so he can go to the movies with Cat for the first time.
Credit: The CW
This is where Vincent's earlier reliance upon his Beast form, in battle, pays off in the storyline. When Bustamante men breaks into Cat's apartment for retaliation, Vincent is unable to dispose of the men so easily, since his abilities have been nullified by the pill. Though Vincent and Cat are able to subdue their attackers, Cat realizes that Vincent must have taken another pill, creating a minor rift in their relationship, as Vincent had made a promise to Cat that he wouldn't take the pill again. This rift is paralleled in the relationship between Joe and Tess, who confronts her boss/lover and demands to know why he's been treating her so badly. Is it because he doesn't want people to suspect about their relationship? Is it because he doesn't respect her anymore as a cop? Joe simply says "Yes" -- however, the answer was to the second question, as he declares that he's trying his hardest to keep everyone in the office from seeing, from the look on his face, just how madly in love he is. He tells Tess he loves her, and hey, at least that's one relationship that's back on track.
But then, so is Cat and Vincent's. The two make up when Vincent explains that he was afraid she'd leave him if she realized that he'd be "like this" forever. So he took the pill, because he doesn't want to take away the future they had envisioned together. However, Cat reiterates that she doesn't care what kind of future they have together, so long as he's in it. Beauty and the Beast, in recent weeks, has seemingly ended every episode with Cat and Vincent having a conversation about their relationship to wrap up whatever hurdle to their romance the story throws at them in a given week. While I should probably be exhausted from the sheer repetition of this trope, I actually think it makes them come across as a more authentic couple. Realistically, no couple has this issue between normalcy and Beastliness, but a lot of couples struggle with reconciling the futures they've envisioned together. Everybody has their own ideas about what the future will hold, and sometimes those ideas don't always add up. Even though I found the dialogue for the scene to be pretty cheesy, I still liked that the show tackled the subject, as it illustrates the progression of Vincent and Cat's relationship from a reckless, passionate love to something more mature. And these narrative choices get audiences invested in their relationship, which is a good thing, since the final twist of the night only works if audiences care about the well-being of Vincent and Cat's relationship.
We learn, from Gabe's scientist girlfriend, Tyler, that Vincent's DNA is perfect for Gabe. It will, essentially, make him whole again. But there's one catch: what they need from Vincent will kill him. Gabe, at the point of desperation, doesn't hesitate: "Whatever it takes." And like that, Gabe is right back to being firmly in "villain" territory -- except, it's not really his fault. It's not like the guy asked Muirfield to experiment on him, whereas Vincent actually signed up for experimentation. As Gabe reaches the end of his rope, it's easy to see why he might consider himself the good guy in all of this. He's the ADA -- his job is to put bad guys behind bars. And he can only continue to do that if he's cured. Yet, because he's targeting Vincent, a character with whom the audience has had 20 episodes to grow attached, Gabe becomes the villain in the scenario. It's morally ambiguous storytelling, but I like the dichotomy: n one side, you have Vincent, who was willing to take pills that would kill him, simply because "three good years is better than a lifetime of hiding" -- in many ways, Vincent has made peace with the fact that the future isn't always what we want it to be; on the other side, however, you have Gabe, who doesn't exactly have that peace of mind -- thus, he will go to any lengths to ensure his own future.
"Date Night" is a well-plotted hour that keeps its narrative tight by focusing on the implications of the future, and how it motivates our actions (and reactions) in the present. I imagine that someone will lose his or her future next week, as I just feel like a death is inevitable. What do you think is going to happen? Sound off in the comments! Thanks for reading.
